Crossing the Line

Hi everyone!

Back at college now – busy, busy, busy!

Sorry the updates have slowed a bit – I’m hoping to get right back on them. Lots of work. Remember, I’m backdating the posts so that’s why they look like they’re from ages ago

Thanks for reading, and be sure to comment!

Chris

Not a huge amount to say about St Vincent to be honest. We had a drill today and I promptly went to bed before going back on watch!

I’m quite amused though, just got a Facebook message from someone in my class at Warsash. Apparently he was on the reefer we passed on the way out of the harbour, and was getting impatient because our pilot was going over to bring them in.

Barbados tomorrow!

I’ve been wanting to come to St Maarten for years, mainly since my days as airline cabin crew where the videos of aircraft flying low over Maho Beach were legendary. I never thought I’d actually get there!

The 4-8 watch is fantastic for getting ashore on port days – you do the arrival and departure and have pretty much the entire day in port to yourself. Now, sleep is a valuable commodity so it’s generally wise to try and get a few hours before the evening watch,  but you still have plenty of time.

I stayed on the bridge for a little while after watch, using the electronic charts to work out how far it is to Maho Beach. It didn’t seem very far, so I went with H, S and C in a taxi. It turned out to be a bit longer than I expected, though I had been a bit stupid and forgotten that cars are restrained by these funny things called roads and can’t just point at a place and go straight there!

The beach itself is really quite nice, with white sand, the most beautiful blue sea and lots of space to sit or lie back and relax. There’s signs all over the place warning tourists of the proximity of the airport.

It’s very fascinating to watch people on this beach. Some have come from the other side of the world because of it’s notoriety. Others are just staying in a local hotel and get quite a shock when a plane whooshes over. The die-hards have a system though. Whenever an aircraft lines up on the runway for take-off, they either hold on to the fence or stand at the top of the slope into the sea. Some have sled-like contraptions, and they sit with their backs to the aircraft. When the engines power up, the backdraft is quite something! Sand goes flying – so fast that it stings a bit and scratches glasses lenses (grrr!). The sled guys go barreling down into the sea, and the fence-riders can sometimes get lifted off the ground. Everyone else just falls over!

The beach is all we saw today really, but I don’t mind too much with the Caribbean ports because I know the chances are I’ll be back again soon. St Maarten is a friendly island, and I’m looking forward to going back and maybe exploring Phillipsburg.

I hate to say it, but Antigua is very much like the other Caribbean ports. Then again, I’m not really venturing beyond the immediate surrounds of the cruise terminal these days so I’m only really getting a small slice of the islands.

Arrival was as usual this morning. Lots of calls to make, logbook, the usual – I won’t bore you too much with it. I found a small bar in the terminal area which advertised free wi-fi, so I ordered a Coke and a burger before finding out that the wi-fi wasn’t working. Wasn’t too impressed. The world beyond the terminal “compound” didn’t look terribly inviting so it was back on board for me.

I’ve apologised before that there’s fewer of my own pictures on the blog since the end of the world cruise, so I thought I’d do a little “feature” piece to use up some of the thousand or so pictures I have. Hopefully these pictures will sustain me over my few months of leave so I can keep the blog interesting without actually going anywhere. So my first piece is on bridge mascots!

Every bridge has its mascots, and Aurora is no different. We have quite a few actually, which probably makes us very lucky.

George goes to Cactus Hospital

George the cactus is perhaps the best loved. He keeps a faithful lookout on the window ledge, front and centre. He’s a very good judge of character, often catching pilots unaware when they go up front to lean on the rail when it’s dark. He was looking a bit poorly for a time, but a rigorous watering regime has sorted that out, and at the end of March he went to cactus hospital where the ship’s florist put him in a new pot.

Timmy and George

We also have Timmy the Mallet, gifted to the ship by Timmy Mallett. He doesn’t do much, though he may prove useful some day should a cadet get too many things wrong.

Monkey

Monkey is very mischeivous, and gets around quite a bit. Sometimes he likes to spend time keeping a lookout. Well, that’s what he says but we reckon he’s checking out who’s on the crew deck. His companions, Camel and eh… Ceramic Bird are often close by. Camel often lets Monkey hitch a ride.

Under Monkey's watchful eye...

He casts a supervising eye over bridge activities, and likes to check that things are being done as they should. Even bell ringing is subject to his scrutiny.

Brian

Brian has been on the bridge for a very long time, and is very good at frightening people on the bridge at night. Mysteriously, sometimes he seems to be facing a different way. He has a brother, Sven, who lives on Oriana. Now I’m assured that Brian is not real, though he does look quite scarily real. He doesn’t feel real though, so I’m hoping he’s just a very accurate replication. Brian was given to the ship by a Norwegian city on Aurora‘s first visit.

If nothing else, the mascots are useful as blogging material, though many who work on the bridge form very affectionate bonds with them. I’m going to miss Monkey the most!